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can guard him, and anyway, I doubt we will meet any resistance." |
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Alinor smiled quick permission. "How kind you are. He will be in heaven. Are you sure he will be no trouble to you, Ian?" |
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That made him laugh aloud. "Of course he will be a trouble. If Adam was no trouble, I would call a physician to see to him at once." Then he said soberly, "Do not worry. I will not permit any harm to come to him, and it is time for him to ride out and to learn that in the field orders must be obeyed." |
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There was a faint tone of question under the statement. Ian knew Alinor to be a very sensible woman, not one who ordinarily would wish to keep her son under her tutelage. However, her situation had not been normal. With her husband dying by inches under her eyes, it was possible she could not bear the thought of any danger, no matter how remote, threatening her only son. |
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"You do not need to tell me. It is more than time. Beorn would not take him. I spoke of it, but Beorn was so distressed that I did not press the point. Too much responsibility has been thrust upon him. I could not add more." |
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"I should have come sooner," Ian said guiltily, "but" He cut that off. It would never do to say why he had delayed. |
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"I understand," Alinor soothed. |
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Ian did not contradict her mistaken impression. She assumed the king had kept him out of spite or capriciousness. If this once John was innocent, Ian was not troubled at heaping the blame upon him. He was guilty often enough, and in this case a thread more or less would not overburden the ass. |
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"Oh, heavens!" Alinor exclaimed as a bar of sunlight touched the doorframe of Ian's bedchamber. "Look at the hour. We have both missed first Mass. I must run and dress. I will send your squires in to you." |
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